Grace. But Sandy Denny is a good runner up. "Unhalfbricking" and "Liege and Lief" by Fairport Convention are two of my favorite albums of the 60s. And Sandy Denny too is a singer, that moves me deeply, just by the voice and the way she sang. Excellent songwriter too: "Who Knows Where The Time Goes", just awesome (Jefferson Starship's cover doesn't even come close). But then, I also can't resist Bonnie Raitt (the early Bonnie ca. 1974) "Been Too Long At The Fair"! Or Christine McVie (certainly not the dreadful Stevie Nicks), Dusty Springfield. And these are only the white girls. What about Aretha Franklin or Millie "Caught Up" Jackson.

Denny's is sweeter, but it's a folk voice. Slick's is a rock voice, though it started folkishly to judge from the Joan Baez type vibrato on the Great Society recordings. It's not a fair comparison, but as a solo voice against a quiet backing I like Sandy Denny better.

Susan Butcher wrote:Denny's is sweeter, but it's a folk voice. Slick's is a rock voice, though it started folkishly to judge from the Joan Baez type vibrato on the Great Society recordings. It's not a fair comparison, but as a solo voice against a quiet backing I like Sandy Denny better.

I also read once that you try to make your voice sound like an electric guitar?

If there’s one thing you’re born with and you can’t do much about it, it’s the vocal box. You have a certain kind of voice, and mine is for rock & roll. But I can’t sing a lullaby—for some reason the vocal box gets really weird on me—I can’t sing high softly for some reason. I’ll show you [Starts singing, voice cracking]: “Lullaby and good night…go to sleep…,” it just doesn’t work. But I can sing that so it would break your eardrums. My mother was a singer—but hers was more [Starts singing richly and slowly]: “I’ll be with you, in apple blossom time…,” you know, that kind of shit. I have to place ballads real low or else I’m screwed. I have a low voice—so does my daughter.

"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it." — George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)

This is a tough one for me.Sandy had a voice both for folk ,(British) and rock and she was accomplished songwriter too.Remember The Battle Of Evermore by Led Zeppelin.Imho she completely outshined Plant there.She was the only singer other than Plant that can be heard on any of LZ records.And for a good reason. She had a voice so powerful that she almost didn't need a microphone but it was also smooth and delicate(as she was as a person-delicate) at the same time.She would have blown off the stage any singer of her time.Sandy was insecure and fragile (somehow I like her even better because of that)- a totally different person than Gracie.

But I like our old broad best so Sandy is my second favorite ever.

Last edited by okeedoe on Wed May 12, 2010 12:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.

okeedoe wrote:Why don't you tell us something in your own words for once ?

This is a tough one for me.Sandy had a voice both for folk ,(British) and rock and she was accomplished songwriter too.Remember The Battle Of Evermore by Led Zeppelin.Imho she completely outshined Plant there.She was the only singer other than Plant that can be heard on any of LZ records.And for a good reason. She had a voice so powerful that she almost didn't need a microphone but smooth and delicate(as she was as a person) at the same time.She would have blown off the stage any singer of her time.Sandy was insecure and fragile (somehow I like her even better because of that)- a totally different person than Gracie.

But I like our old broad best so Sandy is my second favorite ever.

doh. much of what i post is my own words. the above however is from an interview i did not conduct.

"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it." — George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)

I have always been a huge fan of both Grace and Sandy Denny (and Fairport Convention). They are brilliant singers. They have unique voices which nobody else has.On Sandy Denny’s album “The North Star Grassman & the Ravens” there is a beautiful song called “Wretched Wilbur”. It sounds very psychedelic to me. Every time I listen to this song it reminds me of Grace… I don’t know why…

Grace is the one and only for me, over everyone else. EXCEPT perhaps the gorgeous and amazing Stevie Nicks. These are my top two girls.

And yes, use quote marks, whoever posted that Grace interview excerpt. I had to look twice before realising it was Grace speaking and not you. People have thought I was Grace on here in the past. Quite amusing, but slightly annoying to have to answer numerous private msgs saying how much they love "me" (meaning Grace). I am not Grace. Dammit. lol